• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.75-84
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• 2019

Addicts pay more attention to addiction-related cues, such as substance or behavior. And increased attention to these cues is associated with craving. Methamphetamine is the most abused drug among domestic drug offenders, with continually increasing rates of recidivism. Of the total number of reported drug offenders in the last three years, 21.1 percent have been women. Even so, research on female drug offenders is inadequate, rendering policies and fundamental data for the development of psychotherapy programs insufficient. The present study intended to investigate whether female methamphetamine addicts displayed an attention bias towards drug cues. A dot probe task was conducted on 22 female methamphetamine addicts (addiction group) and 22 non-addicts (control group). The task allowed the correct response rates and correct reaction times of the participants to be calculated according to the positioning of the drug and neutral cues. The analysis results revealed that the control group displayed no difference in correct reaction rates and correct reaction times between the drug or neutral cues. While, the addiction group showed lower correct response rate and slower response time for drug cues in comparison to neutral cues. The results of this study are significant in that it identified the attention bias characteristics toward drug cues of female methamphetamine addicts who were disconnected from drugs.

• Korean Journal of School Psychology
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.207-230
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• 2019

This study examined the effect of Attention Feedback Awareness and Control Training(A-FACT) on attention bias and generalized anxiety symptoms in college students. A total of 31 college students with at least 10 points on the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale or at least 56 points on the Korean version of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (K-PSWQ) with attention bias were randomly assigned to one of three groups: A-FACT( n = 11), Attention Bias Modification (ABM)(n = 10) and Active Placebo Control (APC)(n = 10). Participants in A-FACT group received real-time feedback on attention bias based on their Baseline Neutral Response time(BNR) during A-FACT using a dot probe task. Participants in the ABM group received standard ABM, and those in the APC performed a dot probe task that they were informed was a program to reduce attention bias, but feedback was not provided. A total of eight sessions was conducted twice a week over a 4-week period. After every two sessions, GAD-7, K-PSWQ and K-STAI were rated. The effect of attention bias modification training was rated by changes in the Attention Bias Score(ABS), and in GAD-7, K-PSWQ and K-STAI scores. The results of repeated measure ANOVA indicated that the A-FACT group showed a significant decrease in ABS as well as in GAD-7, K-PSWQ and K-STAI scores compared to the other groups. Current results suggest that self-regulatory control of attention, that is, recognition of bias through feedback in A-FACT, may be effective in alleviating attention bias and generalized anxiety symptoms by recognizing bias through feedback on bias in attention bias modification training.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.346-350
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• 2021

Background: The high sensitivity of individuals toward safety information in production activities, that is, attentional bias toward safety (ABS), can positively predict safe behaviors. It has become a hot topic in current organizational safety behavior research. However, there is no literature on its modification method. Methods: Based on the modified dot-probe task, we designed a modification training method of ABS. The training method required subjects to respond to the location of detection points that presented after safety stimulus and neutral stimulus pictures. Subjects' attentional bias values of safety and neutral pictures were measured during the experiment. Twenty-one students were selected and divided into a control group and training group to gain comparable results. Results: A novel training method was developed in this study to promote the efficacy of safety stimulus by activating ABS of the subjects. Moreover, repeated trainings and preacquired relative knowledge can enhance this effect. Conclusion: This study develops an experimental approach to evaluate the effectiveness of safety education and safety training, and also provides a new research idea for accident prevention.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.238-249
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• 1998

Purpose: To localize and compare the neural basis of verbal and visual human working memory, we performed functional activation study using $H_2^{15}O$ PET. Materials and Methods: Repeated $H_2^{15}O$ PET scans with one control and three different activation tasks were performed on six right-handed normal volunteers. Each activation task was composed of 13 match-ing trials. On each trial, four targets, a fixation dot and a probe were presented sequentially and subject's task was to press a response button to indicate whether or not the probe was one of the previous targets. Short meaningful Korean words, simple drawings and monochromic pictures of human faces were used as matching objects for verbal or visual memory. All the images were spatially normalized and the differences between control and activation states were statistically analyzed using SPM96. Results: Statistical analysis of verbal memory activation with short words showed activation in the left Broca's area, promoter cortex, cerebellum and right cingulate gyrus. In verbal memory with simple drawings, activation was shown in the larger regions including where activated with short words and left superior temporal cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus, prefrontal cortex, anterior portion of right superior temporal gyrus and right infero-lateral frontal cortex. On the other hand, the visual memory task activated predominantly right-sided structures, especially inferior frontal cortex, supplementary motor cortex and superior parietal cortex. Conclusion: The results are consistent with the hypothesis of the laterality and dissociation of the verbal and visual working memory from the invasive electrophysiological studies and emphasize the pivotal role of frontal cortex and cingulate gyrus in working memory system.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.7-12
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• 2016

Objective : This study was conducted to evaluate the relationships between selective attention bias for fear stimuli and hallucination in patients with schizophrenia Method : A total of 66 patients with schizophrenia admitted to psychiatry clinics were included in the study. Selective attention bias was measured by the dot-probe task. Patient symptoms were measured using the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale, Psychotic Symptom Rating Scale (PSYRATS), Korean version of the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder, and Clinical Global Impression-Severity scale. Results : Selective attention bias was correlated with the hallucination subscale of PSYTATS (r=0.268, p=0.029). No correlation was found between selective attention bias and other clinical measures. There was no significant difference, but a statistical trend was found (p=0.092) in hallucination severities between the biased and non-biased groups. Conclusion : The results suggest that selective attention bias for fear stimuli is associated with auditory hallucination. This preliminary study suggests the possibility of correlation between auditory hallucination in the psychotic domain and anxiety of the affective component.